The project was designed to offer profit to investors from a range of revenue streams in addition to power sales. These include sales of renewable energy certificates, reserve capacity credit payments, a project development fee when the project reaches financial close and a share of the Engineer Procure Construct (EPC) as well as operation and maintenance margins.

Carnegie’s Managing Director Dr Michael Ottaviano said that he was delighted to be working with IBA and PNF in their first investment in WA’s renewable energy market.

“The Northam Solar Project is a great step forward in Carnegie’s strategy of developing a mixture of customer-owned projects that generate an immediate return at the completion of construction and self-owned projects that generate an annuity return over the life of the project,” Ottaviano said.

Located 200 km from Darwin, the remote community now runs on solar power alone during daylight hours, saving almost 400,000 litres of diesel fuel per year.

The $854,000 project was constructed by Indigenous Essential Services, a subsidiary company of Power and Water Corporation (PWC), with $462,000 of funding pitched in by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

The 1 MW solar-diesel ‘mini-grid’ consists of 3200 photovoltaic solar panels that charge a 2 MWh lithium ion battery. The project is part of the company’s $55 million Solar Energy Transformation Program, which has now installed solar power in 10 remote communities, with more to follow this year.

PWC Chief Executive Michael Thompson said in a media release that an essential part of the process was to build the community’s understanding of how the battery and solar panels worked, and their benefits to the people and their environment.

“Ensuring the community has a sense of ownership is a key area of focus and crucial for the project’s success,” Thompson said.

Nauiyu elder Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr told SBS News that the shift to renewable energy fits with the community’s traditional way of life.

“We’ve always been people that look after nature and now its amazing with having solar – it’s in that mindset of ours in a traditional sense. It’s also going to help nature in the long run,” Ungunmerr explained.

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Nadine Cranenburgh is an electrical engineer with postgraduate qualifications in environmental engineering, and professional writing and editing. She works as a freelance writer and editor specialising in complex topics that draw on her experience in the engineering, local government, defence and environment industries.

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